Old City Bar
by caitly
Summary: One-shot/Song-fic. A very belated Christmas fanfic. Fluff, introduction of sorts for a story to come. Tim Shepard witnesses an odd encounter on Christmas Eve.


"Every light can be a star  
Just depends on where you are  
And the distance that you're looking  
Past the places you have been."

**Old City Bar**

The screeched of brakes on slush announced Tim Shepard's arrival to Bucks and he had to hold in a shutter. He hated his arrival being announced like that. That was more of Winston's thing, being the center of the crowd. Shepard preferred to come in quietly and leave unnoticed.

He had another reason to hate his stepdad now, not that he needed it. The old man couldn't even be bothered to take care of the breaks. Now if he had his car, there wouldn't be people looking out the window to see who came. There wouldn't be Winston laughing at him on the steps, his face poorly lit by the neon "OPEN" sign in the window. However this wasn't his car, so he was going to have to deal with it.

"You can't be serious, Shepard," Winston said as he made his way to the car, turning up his collar in a pointless attempt to stop himself from being covered in snow. "A Bentley?"

"Long time no see, Winston. How was the cooler?" Dallas ignore Tim's question just as he had his as they made their way into Bucks.

It was quieter than usual inside, even considering it was a Thursday night. Peggy was cleaning tables and gave him a smile as he came in. He made of point of getting a beer and two shots before heading to his table. She was good and all, but a bit too clingy. He didn't need to be giving her any reason to come to their table for a while. If she was smart enough she'd see what he was doing and stay away. He doubted that though, she wasn't exactly the smartest person in the world.

Dallas followed him to Shepard's usual table and soon after they were joined by Dave Felson and Gary Coleman. They had been playing pool, and by the look of things Felson won, which wasn't too surprising. His dad had taught him to play pool around the time he learned to walk.

"I hear you have a business proposition for me?" Dallas asked Shepard as he took out a cigarette. "Anyone got a light?"

Coleman tossed him a lighter. "Now where'd you hear that?" Shepard asked, already knowing the answer. It was always good to know the answers to the questions you were asking, that way no one was throwing you a curve ball and surprising you. Shepard knew Curly had told Winston about what they wanted to do. Hell, he'd practically told Curly how to tell Winston about it.

"Your dumbass little brother," Winston grinned. "Hell, he was practically gushing about it. If I hadn't known better I might of thought he was a girl, the way he was going off about it all."

Good Curly.

"So are you in or out?" Shepard asked downing one of the shots.

Dallas took his other shot which Shepard ignored. He knew Winston was trying to get him annoyed, but he wasn't going to let it work.

"I need to know more." Winston finally responded, sliding the lighter back to Coleman.

"Don't we all," Coleman said to Dallas. After lighting his own cigarette and taking a long drag on it he continued. "Shepard hasn't told us shit about what's going on yet. All we've gotten is that it's gonna be big," he pulled his hands far apart, showing just how big it would be.

"Speak for yourselves," Felson responded, grinning. Dave had been one of the first to know about what was happening. Shepard had needed to run it by a few other people to check it out. Seeing how Felson was the best man he had at fooling people, he was a good choice. Not to mention that his loyalty was unfaltering.

"You knew?" Coleman asked Felson accusingly. Dave only grinned bigger. Coleman opened his mouth to continue only to be cut off by Tim.

"Yeah he knew, and if you knew how to keep your trap shut I might've told you, too. We'll wait for Harris to get here 'fore we continue. He's getting some last minute details figured out."

The four of them sat there for a few minutes longer in silence. All but Shepard had grown restless, and soon Felson and Coleman left for a rematch. Shepard and Winston spoke quietly, Tim was catching Dallas up on what was going on on the streets, and Dallas was telling him about what was going on in the cooler. While they were not exactly friends, they weren't enemies, either. They both knew they could rely on each other, both for a fight and for an ally.

"So how long is Matthews in for?" Shepard asked, playing with the switch blade.

"A week, but you should see the shiner that Soc gave him. Two-Bit _says_ that the Soc looks worse, but I'm not too sure that's possible," Dallas grinned.

"I'm guessing the Soc didn't get any time?"

"No," Winston replied, his grin gone. "Not let you ever expected him to, right?"

Shepard didn't respond right away, but instead looked around. Something was wrong, something was not the way it was suppose to be, he just couldn't place what was off. He'd been trying to figure it out for a good part of their conversation, but now it was really bugging him.

Something, but what?

"Why's it so fucking quiet here? It's like a fricking funeral or something, right Shepard?" Dallas said, loudly.

And that was it. Everyone had grown quiet in the bar and was looking towards the door. Felson and Coleman were making their way back to the table, their game left unfinished. Even the music was turned off. Shepard got up from the table and made his way to the door, Winston close behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other two turning to join them.

"You have got to be kidding me," Winston said as they came closer to the door.

Standing there in the open doorway was a small kid, his nose running all over the place, his cheeks red and his lips a little bit purple. His worn sweatshirt was covered in snow and his sneakers were soaked. A puddle had even started to form around his feet.

Nobody said anything and Shepard looked at Buck who stood behind the counter. He looked like he wasn't sure what he should do.

"Somebody's been standing outside the door for hours, you know that?" The kid said out loud in a clear voice. Still no one said anything. Buck turned and wiped the fog off the window near him and looked outside.

Shepard pulled the curtain of the window by the door back to see for himself. He had to squint, but sure enough by the streetlight at the corner you could see a girl standing alone. She looked cold, just like the kid had, and she was shivering pretty awful, like she had been out there for a while. But Shepard hadn't been here long, and he knew that she wasn't there when he had arrived.

"She can't get home," the kid continued. "She's stuck here. Doesn't that suck?"

Buck turned back to the kid with a half mad, half wary look. "Not like I care or anything like that. But how the heck do you know she's stuck?"

"Well, I kind of figure that if someone could be home, they'd be there, seeing how it's Christmas Eve and all, you know?"

Shepard watched as Buck started coming out from behind the bar, and then stopped when he saw everyone watching. "What do you want?" He demanded, and slowly people started drifting back to what they were doing earlier. Shepard and Winston made their way back to their table with Felson and Coleman but were still watching.

Satisfied that nearly everyone had stopped staring at him, Buck walked over to his cash register. He took all the money out of it, and shoved it into his pocket. Shepard saw Winston giving him a surprised look, but ignored it. They both knew how protective Buck was of his money. Hell, he didn't like giving Dallas a few bucks, and he made a lot of it for him in rodeos.

With the kid in tow, Buck walked out of the bar and headed across the street. The girl and Buck started talking for a few minutes as the kid watched. Buck went to the pay phone in front of the bar and called a taxi. Buck, the girl, and the kid continued talking as they waited for the taxi. When it got there we heard him tell the driver to go to the station, and he put the girl in it.

As Buck made his way back to the bar Shepard could see that all the money was gone.

He had given it all to the girl.

_If you want to arrange it  
this world you can change it  
If we could somehow make this  
Christmas thing last_

_By helping a neighbor  
Or even a stranger_

_And to know who needs help  
You need only just ask_

_Then he looked for the child  
But the child wasn't there  
Just the wind and the snow  
Waltzing dreams through the air_

_So he walked back inside  
Somehow different I think  
For the rest of the night  
No one paid for a drink_

_And the cynics will say  
That some neighborhood kid  
Wandered in on some bums  
In the world where they hid_

_But they weren't there  
So they couldn't see  
By an old neon star  
On that, night, Christmas Eve_

_When the snow it was falling  
The neon was calling  
And in case you should wonder  
In case you should care_

_Why we're on our own  
Never went home  
On that night of all nights  
We were already there_

_Then all at once inside that night  
He saw it all so clear  
The answer that he sought so long  
Had always been so near_

_It's every gift that someone gives  
Expecting nothing back  
It's every kindness that we do  
Each simple little act_

_A/N: This one-shot was inspired by the song "Old City Bar" by TSO. I do not own the song. S.E. Hinton owns _The Outsiders_. I do own all of the original characters though._

_Please review, and be honest! I love constructive criticism! This is my first fiction I'm posting for _The Outsiders_ fandom, but don't go easy on me because of this. Thank you! -caitly_


End file.
